The New Ultimate Spider-Man is Half-Black and Half-Latino!

The New Ultimate Spider-Man with a new man behind the mask.

Hate it or love it, Marvel’s Ultimate line of books definitely knows how to grab the attention of the masses. First it was for groundbreaking new takes on already established characters, then it was for a darker and more controversial approach to The Avengers. But not all headlines have been fan favorites, just look at the utterly disappointing Ultimatum story line from a few years back. This post is about the newest headline that’s come out of The Ultimate Universe. Good or bad? That’s up to you. It’s too early to tell for most but I already have a good feeling about it. But before I get into the big announcement, I thought I would provide a brief overview of what exactly the Ultimate Universe is and how it will be affected.

Back in 2001 Marvel Comics started a new line of books that would exist in a universe that is separate from its other comics, they called it the Ultimate Universe. This allowed creators to breathe fresh life into characters by revamping their origins, updating their supportive casts and settings as well as taking risks that might not work in regular Marvel Universe. X-Men and Spider-Man were the first two Marvel titles to get the Ultimate treatment. The titles were an instant success and up until the last few years, they have been fan favorites and best sellers. The Ultimate line lost readers and support from many fans after the recent Ultimatum story line that resulted in the deaths of millions of people including most of the X-Men. Since then, the Ultimate books have never really been the same enjoyable read.

It looks like Marvel got the message and they are working to fix the Ultimate line instead of scraping and relaunching it (like many fans have suggested on countless comment posts). Part of this effort included the “Death of Spider-Man” story that would “change the face of the Ultimate Universe” (again). I have to say that the story was actually really good. I didn’t disappoint and it was very dramatic and touching as it reached its climax. The big question was what would come next? There had to be something they were cooking up to fill that void?! Right?

During the few issues of the Death of Spider-Man story arc teasers began to emerge for a new Ultimate Spider-Man title with a new man behind the mask. Rumors circulated that there would be something very new and different about the new Spider-Man. A girl, an African American and even the resurrected Peter Parker where a few of the most popular guesses among fans. But now thanks to USA today we have answers.

The new Ultimate Spider-Man will be a half-black and half-latino teen named Miles Morales. Ultimate Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis had this to say in the USA Today article: “The theme is

Half-black and half-latino teenage Spider-Man, Miles Morales.

the same: With great power comes great responsibility,” says writer Brian Michael Bendis. “He’s going to learn that. Then he has to figure out what that means.” Here are a few more excerpts from Bendis that appeared in the USA Today article.

“It’s certainly long overdue,” Bendis says. “Even though there’s some amazing African-American and minority characters bouncing around in all the superhero universes, it’s still crazy lopsided.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice for them to have a character or a hero that speaks to them as much as Peter Parker has spoken to so many children?” Bendis says. “There’s nothing wrong with that, and I think we need more of it.”

I for one agree with Bendis. I think this is a great step in direction I always wanted Marvel to go in. Growing up my brothers and I always related to the X-Men because they were considered a minority that hasn’t really been accepted by all. But there was never really a latino, hispanic or minority character that we really felt like we could identify with. I’m looking forward to this book and I really hope this is the first of many bold and progressive moves from Marvel. The new Spidey makes his first appearance today in Ultimate Fallout #4. Its available at your local comic shop and on the ipad and iphone Marvel app.

-m

Tags: african american, black spider-man, brian michael benids, danny glover, death of spider-man, latino, latino spider-man, miles morales, new ultimate spiderman, spiderman, ultimate fallout 4, ultimate universe